METEORITES OF NORTH AMERICA. 425 



As to the nature and amount of the constituent gases, the results differ very materially from those arrived at by 

 Graham, as may be seen by the following comparison: 



Augusta 

 Lenarto County 



Hydrogen 85.68 35.83 



Carbonic oxide 4. 46 38. 33 



Carbonic anhydride 9. 75 



Nitrogen 9. 86 16. 09 



100.00 100.00 

 The gases obtained in the experiment now in question agree more nearly with those of common wrought iron (clean 

 horseshoe nails), as found by Graham, viz., in the first portion collected: 



Hydrogen 35. 00 



Carbonic oxide 50. 3 



Carbonic anhydride 7. 7 



Nitrogen 16. 09 



100.00 

 and the conclusion arrived at by him, that "the predominance of carbonic oxide in its occluded gases appears to attest 

 the telluric origin of iron," would deny to the Virginia specimen the right to be classed among meteoric masses, with 

 which, however, all its other physical and chemical characteristics agree most fully. I am quite satisfied, from the 

 condition of the masses of iron as they came into my hands, and especially from the character of the crust, that the 

 metal had not been subjected to any heating in a blacksmith's fire or otherwise by human hands since it was found, as 

 has sometimes happened to similar specimens in the endeavor to discover their nature or to make use of them. 



A fourth mass was described by Mallet 3 in 1878, as follows* 



In 1871 I described three masses of meteoric iron found a few miles from Staunton, in this State; still another 

 has lately been brought to light under the following circumstances: About the year 1858 or 1859 a negro man, named 

 Alf , belonging to Mr. Robert Van Lear (on whose land the largest of the three already described meteorites was found), 

 brought to Staunton a lump of iron which he had found, and tried to sell it, but no one considered it curious or valu- 

 able enough to pay the price asked, a dollar. This man is dead, and it can not now be ascertained where he found 

 the specimen, but probably on Mr. Van Lear's land, and undoubtedly in his immediate neighborhood. Failing to 

 sell the mass, Alf threw it away in a vacant plot of ground behind a blacksmith's shop. Here it lay for several years, 

 until it was used, with some other loose material to build a stone fence. On account of its irregular shape and great 

 weight it soon fell out of the fence, and was then thrown aside in the rear of a dentist's house. He used it for some 

 time as an anvil on which to hammer metals and crack nuts, and afterwards had it built into a wall round the curbing 

 of a cistern. Here, during the summer of 1877, it came under the notice of Mr. M. A. Miller, of Staunton, who obtained 

 possession of it, had it removed from the wall, and near the end of the year disposed of it to Messrs. Ward and Howell, 

 of Rochester, New York. These gentlemen, who were at the time engaged in the arrangement of a geological and 

 zoological collection which they had contracted to furnish for the University of Virginia, allowed me to examine the 

 meteorite before it was sent to Rochester, and have furnished me with material for its analysis. They are having the 

 largest part of the iron cut into slices as specimens for sale. 



The shape of the mass is like that of many other metallic meteorites, irregularly rounded, larger at one end than 

 the other, something like a shoulder of mutton in general outline, with well-marked concave depressions or pittings. 



The greatest length is 45.7 cm., greatest width 29.2 cm., and greatest thickness 20.3 cm. The weight was 152 

 pounds, or 68,950 grams. The crust was not as thick as that upon the masses from the same locality previously 

 examined, and at a number of points the metallic luster of the iron was visible. Magnetic polarity was detectable 

 at various parts of the surface. The specific gravity, taken with a clean piece of 87.5 grams, was found =7.688 at 18° 

 C. The iron is compact and crystalline, with plates of schreibersite running through it, while a few specks of troilite 

 were detected. On etching with nitric acid the Widniannstatten figures are clearly and beautifully brought out, and 

 their general character is quite the same with that shown upon the etched surface of the three previously described 

 masses. On one surface two distinct sets of crystalline markings are observable, the angles of intersection in each of 

 these being nearly uniform. 



An analysis made by Mr. J. R. Santos, of Guayaquil, Ecuador, now working in this laboratory, gave the following 



results: 



Iron 91. 439 



Nickel 7. 559 



Cobalt 0. 608 



Copper 0. 021 



Tin trace 



Phosphorus *. 0. 068 



Sulphur 0. 018 



Chlorine trace 



Carbon 0. 142 



Silicon (counted as silica) 0. 108 



99. 963 



